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Topic: Local Nature (Read 131132 times)

Trinity: you say they would pay much attention until they hit one: is that deer or sign ? An intriguing aspect of our area is the numbers of road signs that fail of old age/ lack of maintenance, don't get replaced, or "disappear" (including by wholesale dismantling, chucking in to the undergrowth ... by "parties unknown")

As the county sign for Hertfordshire is a Stag I would have thought everyone knew that the whole county is full of deer.Mind you the place is full of townies Most people would only be priveleged to see one alive just before they ran it over, like rabbits, they walk out and freeze. Splat. As usuall its driving too fast, if you hit a deer it could easily have been a human, makes you think.Hert (Hart)/Ford= Deer/Crossing ( I think)regards,jet

Just found a tunnel in my compost heap at the bottom of the garden. It's the first time I have been down there since last summer. The opening of the hole is about as big as a football, but it soon reduces to about eight inches across. The main chamber is to the bottom right of the opening in the picture below. Does anyone have any ideas of what could be living there. I suppose I had better leave it alone, whatever it is.

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Strange you should mention the Deer in your garden, I had ( still is?)a herd of them living in my garden just the other side of the road from you, maybe they cross the road when everyone is asleep.Cute creatures that eat all the plant leaves/buds.Hence the eu directive I posted about on the 1st.regards,jet

Green Woodpeckers are fairly common, but it's nice to have one visit your garden. We have a couple who peck on tree roots of a dead tree which appear near the surface of the lawn. This site's bird pages give you an indication of how common a bird is. Click here to read them. The percentage given underneath each bird shows how many months in each year between 1996 and 2003 a bird was seen. The 100% given for the Green Woodpecker means that it was spotted every month during those years.

I am merging this thread with the 'Local Nature' thread, which is where most items about things people have seen are being kept.

Thanks

David

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I have uploaded GWTSEC's images for her (above). She had done everything right, but there is a limit on the size for each post. I have put two on her post and here are the other two. By the way, if you want to upload pictures and they get rejected, you can always scrunch them down using this free online tool. http://www.jpegwizard.com/. You simply sign up, browse to your pictures, scrunch them and then save the compressed version you want on your computer. Then you can upload them to the site. Well done GWTSEC, lovely pics.

We saw a Red Kite flying over our Brookmans Park garden on Saturday. I didn't want to post about it until I had it confirmed by two local ornathologists. Apparently there have been a few local sightings. I have been told that Red Kite's have been reintroduced into the environment in the Chilterns and Northamptonshire. The one we saw was being chased by a rook or crow. We spotted the distinctive forked tail. According to one site Red Kites have a wingspan of nearly two metres (about five-and-a-half-feet), but a relatively small body weight of 2 - 3 Ibs. This one looked like a door floating over the garden. Apparently the wing span means the bird is incredibly agile, and can stay in the air for many hours with hardly a beat of its wings. The one we saw didn't seem to be too bothered by the crow - but it was a magnificent bird. Here is an image from the BBC Wales site.

Did anyone else see it?

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The Brookmans Park Newsletter has been supporting the village and our local community since 1998 by providing free, interactive tools for all to use.